California Biographies, San Joaquin Valley
Transcribed by Peggy Hooper
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176
HIRAM FORD. A resident of Fresno since 1887, Hiram Ford was born in Ohio county, Indiana,
April 28, 1850, and is a son of Darius and Margaret (Brown) Ford, natives respectively of
Rutland, Vt, and Indiana. The maternal grandfather. David Brown, was born in Pennsylvania and
in an early day identified himself with the then frontier region of Switzerland county, Indiana,
where he cleared a tract of raw land. After settling in Ohio county. Indiana, Darius Ford
followed the tanning business for some years, but eventually turned his attention to flour
milling and continued in that industry until his death. Both he and his wife spent their last days
in Indiana. They were the parents of two sons and two daughters, all of whom are still living,
Hiram being the only member of the family to settle on the Pacific coast. His younger brother.
Oliver P. M. Ford, M. D., was reared under his supervision and he paid the expenses of his
education in the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, from which he was graduated. At this
writing he is a successful physician at Rising Sun, Ind.
In the county where he was born, Hiram Ford passed uneventfully the years of boyhood and
youth, receiving meager advantages in neighboring schools, but acquiring through reading and
observation a large fund of valuable information. Under his father he learned the milling and
stone dressing business and after his father's death he operated the mill for a year, when it was
sold. Thereupon he turned his attention to the carpenter's trade. About this time he married
Miss Sophia C. Cooper, who was born and reared in Ohio county, Indiana, and whose
cooperation has been of great assistance to him in all of his active life. After his marriage he
engaged in the mercantile business at Bennington, Ind., for seven years, and on selling out
resumed work as a carpenter.
When Mr. Ford came to Fresno in 1887 the town had only one three-story brick building. During
the next three years the building business was active, carpenters were in constant demand,
and he had no difficulty in securing steady work. In 1891 he took up contracting, his first
contract being for the building of a large fruit cannery in Fresno. Since then his business has
grown steadily, and now during the busy seasons he gives employment to about thirty hands.
Scores of elegant residences in various parts of the city have been built under his supervision.
Among other buildings for which he had the contract are the Baptist church, Union high school
at Clovis, Kirk school house in Fresno and the John Brown colony school house in Madera
county. Not only does he understand every detail and department of the contracting business,
but he is further fortunate in being able to handle his workmen without friction, a matter of no
small importance in these days of constant conflict between capital and labor. He makes his
home in a residence that he built on the corner of K and San Benito streets. In his family there
are six children, namely : Margaret A., wife of Alvin G. Lorbeer, who is now living at Tucson,
Ariz.; Flora A., at home: Harrison H., a farmer of Fresno count}; Grace G., wife of Thomas C.
Edgar, of Reedley ; Charles W.. who is employed as foreman of his father's building operations;
and Stephen L.. a box-maker.
On the organization of the Citizens' Alliance Mr. Ford became one of its charter members, and
he is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce. Politically he is a believer in Republican
principles. On the organization of the local lodge, Woodmen of the World, he became a charter
member. About 1873 he was initiated into the Independent Order of Odd Fellows while a
resident of Indiana and since coming to the coast he has affiliated with Fresno Lodge No. 186, of
which he is secretary at this writing. For two terms he has been past chief patriarch of the
encampment of Fresno, and also officiates as clerk of the canton of this city. When the Builders'
Exchange was established he became a charter member and now serves as secretary of the
governing board. He took a warm interest in the organization of the Contractors' Association
and was honored by the members with the office of president, which he has filled with fidelity
and efficiency.